Pacing the Cage
by CommanderCatbug
Summary: When they first move to Beacon Hills, Hazel and Juniper Emerson have no intentions of getting attached. When you've lost everything, you start expecting to keep nothing. But Beacon Hills is not a typical town, and once you enter, all your expectations fly out the window.
1. Chapter 1

"So...why exactly are we going to a stranger's house? You know the likelihood of them being a supernatural? I mean, I don't. But Lydia's working on an equation and my guess is that it's pretty damn likely!" Stiles was babbling as he hastened to keep up with his best friend, who was doing a pretty decent job of ignoring him. Stiles would've been sort of impressed if he wasn't quite so annoyed. Once again, Scott was being a pushover, and once again, it was probably going to get them in more trouble than it was worth.

The Emersons, a couple that lived down the street from the McCalls, had just adopted two children and were holding a party in their honor. The McCalls had been invited, of course, but Melissa had work and begged Scott to go in her stead. The boy in question had been playing video games with Stiles when the call came, and he had dragged his best friend along with him, but not without protest. Lots of protest. Stiles was practically a one-man picket line.

"The Emersons used to babysit me when my mom worked late shifts. They were the best. I know how happy they are to finally have kids of their own. I want to be there to support them."

"Mrs McKinney used to babysit you too, and she ended up being a dryad! She tried to kill Liam!"

"Well, he did almost burn down the forest."

Stiles sputtered, trying to find words. "That's not the point! The point is..."

Scott interrupted. "The point is, I'm going to this party, whether or not you go with me."

"Seriously? You have no sense of self- or Stiles-preservation!" Throwing his hands up in the air like a petulant child, Stiles trailed behind his friend, muttering profanities the entire time.

Scott continued trying to ignore the other boy, but there was only so much of Stiles' whining that he could take. He turned around sharply, nearly crashing into Stiles who stopped hastily.

"If you're going to keep acting like a kid, go home. I don't want to deal with you right now." Scott was angry, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling. Stiles was thrown off-guard, as angry wasn't exactly in character for his oldest friend.

Stiles tried his best to produce puppy-dog eyes. "But it's Stiles-and-Scott time. You're going to give that up for some lame party?"

Scott huffed. "I told you before, this party is important to Mom and me. I already said that I would go. I'm not going to let them down."

Any further griping on Stiles' part was ended when the front door of the Emerson house swung open. A shadowed figure, features unrecognizable in the backlit doorway, called out. "Are you coming inside or what?" The voice was female, and not one that either of the two boys recognized.

"Yeah! We're coming!" Scott yelled back, grabbing Stiles by the arm and pulling him up the driveway. (Stiles may have put some effort into dragging his feet, but he was no match for Scott's werewolf strength.)

"We could hear you two arguing from inside, you know? One of you is extremely rude," the female voice commented as Scott and Stiles approached the porch. Stiles scowled, and Scott dug his fingers in slightly.

"Sorry about that. My friend can be a little..." Scott wasn't quite sure how to finish the sentence, but the girl nodded anyway. "I'm Scott McCall, and this is - "

"I can introduce myself," Stiles said, struggling out of Scott's grasp, "I'm Stiles Stilinski."

"Lovely," the girl drawled sarcastically, "Now get in here. You're keeping me from the cake."

"Now look who's being rude. You haven't even told us your name." Stiles and Scott followed the girl inside the house, the former scowling all the while.

"Juniper," she shot over her shoulder, strutting through the foyer like it was a runway. Stiles scrambled to keep up with her. She was probably the same height as him, but her heels made her into a giant. He didn't have much experience with tall girls, to be honest. He was a bit intimidated (though he'd never admit it out loud).

"You don't even live here."

"Actually, I do. I just moved in."

Scott chimed in, probably saving Stiles from digging himself an even deeper hole. "Oh, so you're one of the girls the Emersons adopted?"

Juniper's response was a derisive laugh. "Good solve, Scooby. Really A+ detective work."

Stiles was once again prevented from speaking, this time by the group's arrival in the living room. The space was fairly full, adults and teenagers in small groups speckled throughout. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and no one seemed to be in any sort of distress, so Stiles was probably wrong about his misgivings this time. Probably.

There was a harsh whisper of "Juniper!" from off to the side. The three turned, but all they could see was a large leafy house plant. The boys were confused, but Juniper sighed heavily.

"Hazel, what are you doing? Get out of there."

A head popped out between some fronds. It belonged to an Asian girl with nervous brown eyes and full frowning lips. Her brown bob covered her face like a blanket, obscuring most of what the plant did not.

"I was waiting for you to get back," she murmured, blushing and releasing the fronds as she made eye contact with Scott and Stiles.

"I'm here now. Seriously, come out. You're being ridiculous."

The plant's pot scooted across the floor as the new girl appeared, head bowed and hands fidgeting. "I'm sorry," she said, "I just don't know anyone but you."

Juniper sighed again, approaching the girl and swinging an arm over her shoulders. "If you keep hiding, you're not going to get to know anyone." She walked the girl forward, positioning them in front of the two boys. "We can start right now. Hazel, this is Scott and Stiles," Juniper gestured to each in turn, "Boys, this is Hazel. She's my new sister."

Scott bounded forward, a large grin stretched across his face. "It's nice to meet you, Hazel. You're going to love living with the Emersons. I grew up around them. They're practically family."

"Ah, yes. They seem very kind." She didn't look at Scott as she shook his offered hand, pulling her own away as soon as possible.

"There's no need to be nervous. At least not with Scott," Stiles commented, looking the girl up and down as subtly as possible (which is to say, not subtly at all), "He's harmless. Basically a giant puppy. Couldn't hurt a fly if he tried."

Juniper snorted, covering her face with her free hand. Hazel looked up, briefly meeting Stiles' eyes, before hurriedly returning her gaze to the floor.

"It's nice to meet you. Thank you for coming."

"Thanks for coming, too - I mean - you live here so obviously you'd be here but..." Stiles babbled.

Scott snickered. "You okay there, buddy?"

"Yeah, totally. I'm in tip-top shape! Just hungry, y'know?"

"There's some manicotti in the kitchen. I can show you, if you'd like," Hazel mumbled, still looking at the ground.

"Yeah! Totally! I love manicotti! It's delish-icotti, I say!" Stiles was flustered, that much was clear. Scott hadn't seen him like this in years, since before Lydia joined the pack and deigned to speak to the hyperactive boy.

The tips of Hazel's ears turned red as she turned and shuffled towards what was clearly the kitchen. Stiles followed, tripping over his own feet but catching himself before he toppled into his guide.

Scott returned his attention to Juniper, who was grinning. (Scott noticed that this seemed out of character for her, as far as he'd seen, but he was smart enough to not comment on it.)

"That was...interesting," Scott commented, a bit of awkwardness lacing his tone.

Juniper chuckled. "That's one word for it. But I'm glad to see her talking to someone finally. She hasn't said a word to anyone but me and the Emersons since the party started."

Scott was considering an appropriate reply when his thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the Emersons.

"Scott! I'm so glad you could make it," Mrs. Emerson exclaimed, smiling widely in his direction, "Has Juniper shared how she ended up living with us?"

"No, we've only been talking for a few minutes," Scott replied cautiously, looking sideways at Juniper. He was hoping to read her facial expression and craft his response accordingly. His hopes were quickly dashed, however, when a quick glance provided him with absolutely no insight. Her face may as well have been a blank slate, and Scott was quietly perturbed by how her face betrayed none of her feelings, especially in such an emotionally-charged environment.

"Well, you remember my sister, Susan?" Mr. Emerson inquired in his rumbly Santa voice, which worked surprisingly well when paired with his walrus-esque mustache. Scott nodded.

"Juniper is her daughter. Susan passed away last summer, and we've been fighting her ex-husband for custody of our little Junebug ever since. And now, she's finally here!" Mrs. Emerson was almost too giddy for what was actually really sad news, Scott thought. She had always been upbeat though. It was just her way.

"I asked you to stop calling me that," Juniper grumbled, rolling her eyes.

"But Junebug! We've always called you that, ever since you were a little girl!"

"Well, I'm not a little girl anymore," she mumbled, low enough that Scott could only hear her because of his enhanced senses.

"Scottie, I've got 'cotti!" Stiles approached the group, a smile on his face and two exceptionally large plates of manicotti in his hands. Hazel trailed behind, still red, but Scott thought he could see a bit of a sparkle in her eyes. He might have just been imagining it, though.

"Thanks, man," Scott said as his friend handed him one of the plates. With his now-free hand, Stiles pulled two forks out of his hoodie pocket, passing one along and keeping one for himself. He dug in with gusto, and Scott was a bit embarrassed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Emerson, this is my best friend, Stiles Stilinski. Stiles, these are our hosts."

"'Ice 'oo 'eet 'oo," Stiles declared around a ridiculous mouthful of manicotti. Scott would've face-palmed, except that would only make a bad situation worse.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Stilinski. I see you've met Hazel, then." Mrs. Emerson was beaming, and Scott knew that look. She was plotting something.

"Yuh! She'fs gruy!" Stiles had taken another gigantic bite while Mrs. Emerson was speaking, because of course he would. If Scott hadn't known any better, he might have thought Stiles was raised in a cave, instead of Malia.

There was a low buzzing in Scott's pocket as he received a text message. He fished it out and slid his finger across the screen.

 **Kira:** _l+m found an omega in the forest. theyre chasing now but need you to head it off near old hale house asap_

The Alpha sighed in relief, causing the others to look at him.

"Oh, we have...a quiz tomorrow in our economics class, and our friend Kira really needs our help studying. We should probably get going." Scott was a terrible liar, but hopefully the Emersons wouldn't be able to tell. Mr. Emerson nodded sagely, Mrs. Emerson smiled kindly, Hazel kept looking at the ground, and Juniper raised her eyebrow at him. Thankfully, Stiles' mouth was too full for him to ask any questions.

"Thanks so much for the food. It was nice meeting you, Hazel and Juniper. I'll bring the plates back tomorrow, okay? Cool, bye!" Scott said as he essentially dragged Stiles out of the house, leaving confused outsiders in his wake.

As they exited the house, Stiles finally managed to speak coherently. "What's up, bro?"

"Kira actually did text. There's an omega prowling around. Liam and Malia are in pursuit, but they want us to head it off. We need to get to the Hale house."

"Okay, but let me finish this manicotti first. It really is delicious."

* * *

 **A/N:** _We are so excited to finally be posting the first chapter of this fic! My friend (llleeerrroooyyy on tumblr) and I have been working on this for a few months now, and we've grown quite attached to it. We hope that you'll love our children as much as we do, and we look forward to hearing from everyone!_


	2. Chapter 2

On Monday morning, Melissa McCall informed her son that he would be showing Hazel and Juniper around school. Scott tried to protest, but his mother was having none of it.

"These girls have no one. You know what that's like," she scolded, and his only response was to hang his head like the puppy he was.

Scott tried his best to get to school early, so he could inform his pack about his forced duty. But there was a mishap with his homework where he was halfway to school before realizing he'd left it on his desk and had to turn around. So he ended up arriving at Beacon Hills High with only 10 minutes before class began. He was supposed to meet the girls at the office, so he parked his bike as quickly as he could before racing inside.

He skidded to a stop in front of the office, trying his best to compose himself before he entered. When he did walk in, Hazel and Juniper were sitting in chairs across from the reception desk. Juniper was flicking through her phone while Hazel stared at her thumbs.

"I'm here! Sorry I'm late. I forgot my homework and had to turn around and it's been too crazy of a day for just 8 AM." Now Scott was the one babbling. It was possible that he'd been spending too much time with Stiles.

Hazel jolted out of her seat, while Juniper languidly stood up. They were certainly very different individuals, Scott noticed, but they seemed to get along well enough. It was nice that they both had someone to rely on in such a new environment.

"Here are their schedules, Scott," said Ms Lynden, the school secretary, as she held out a stack of papers, "It's so nice of you to help these girls out."

"Thanks," Scott replied, grabbing the papers. He turned toward his temporary charges. "Okay, we should probably get going. Lots to see, not a lot of time."

Hazel nodded almost frantically. Juniper snapped her gum. The two girls picked up their bags from the ground before following Scott into the hall. He quickly glanced at their schedules before handing them to their respective owners.

"It looks like you have most of the same classes, so that makes this a lot easier," Scott offered as he set off, "And my friends and I are in a lot of those classes too."

He couldn't think of anything to say, and neither girl seemed keen to speak, so they walked in silence for a minute. Eventually they reached a bank of lockers, and Scott gestured at two. "These are your lockers. Your combos should be on your schedules, I think. You won't really need these until later, I just figured this was the best way to start off the tour." He was babbling again. Great.

"Okay, so your first class is Comparative Governments with Mr. Yukimura," he explained as he led them down the hall, "Stiles and I are in that class with you, along with some of our friends. I think you'll like it. Mr Yukimura's really nice."

"You have to say that. You're dating his daughter." Liam and Mason joined them from an adjacent hallway, the Beta blinking his blue eyes at the two girls. Mason chuckled at his friend's reaction, nudging him to break him out of his trance.

"Hazel, Juniper, meet Liam Dunbar and Mason Hewitt. Liam, Mason, these are my neighbors, Hazel and Juniper Emerson." The four exchanged greetings, Liam blushing as Juniper offered him a slow smirk. Scott coughed, giving the younger boys a pointed look. Quietly sniggering, Mason grabbed his friend's arm and tugged him away, calling a goodbye over his shoulder.

"He was cute," Juniper commented. She punctuated her statement with another gum snap as the group continued walking.

"He has a girlfriend," Scott replied, "They're pretty serious."

Juniper shrugged, and Scott felt a mild concern. He was pretty sure Hayden wouldn't appreciate a new girl hitting on her boyfriend. But that was a problem for another time, he supposed.

He brought the tour to a stop when they reached Mr Yukimura's classroom.

"This is your first class. Like I said, Mr Yukimura's nice, but he's a stickler about tardiness. If you get to class on time, you'll probably be on his good side," the Alpha explained before he opened the door. As before, Hazel nodded and Juniper snapped her gum.

They traipsed inside, interrupting the beginning of Mr Yukimura's lecture. Scott quickly explained the situation to the teacher before he made his way to his assigned seat.

"It appears we have two new students," Mr Yukimura announced shortly, "Girls, would you like to introduce yourselves?" There was a telltale thunk from behind Scott.

"Really, Dad?" Kira muttered.

"I'm Juniper Emerson. Just moved here from San Luis Opibso. My mom died and now I live with my aunt and uncle." Once again, she ended with a gum snap. Scott was really starting to hate that sound.

The students stared at Juniper, confused and surprised by her nonchalance. Their expressions quickly became bored as Hazel stepped forward.

"H-hello. I'm Hazel. Emerson. I'm from - Des Plaines. That's in - Illinois. Um...I live with Juniper and - her aunt and uncle - and..."

Mr Yukimura cut her off, and Scott could hear her emit a small sigh of relief.

"Thank you, girls," Mr Yukimura said. "You can take your seats now. Hazel, you can take the empty seat in front of Mr Stilinski," Stiles gestured wildly, almost toppling his desk. "And Juniper, you can sit..." he scanned the classroom, looking for another seat, "next to Mr. Raeken."

Juniper looked up from inspecting her nails, making eye contact with Theo. His response was to shoot her a dazzling smile. A small gasp came from the direction of the windows. Lydia, sitting to the right of Stiles, rolled her eyes.

The girls made their way to their new seats. Hazel gave Stiles a shy smile as she sat down and pulled out some supplies. Juniper chose to flick her hair as she sat down, effectively blocking Theo's gaze. He responded by muttering something that Juniper was unable to hear, but she didn't really care. She had other things to think about.

* * *

"That boy next to you..." Hazel whispered when Juniper approached her after class.

"Yeah, he was cute. So?" Juniper couldn't seem more disinterested if she tried.

Hazel opened her mouth to respond, but snapped it shut when Scott and Stiles joined them. Well, she actually let out a squeak and tried to hide behind her new sister, which didn't work out all that well.

"Who was cute? Me? I bet you're talking about my hot bod, aren't you?" Stiles joked, grinning at them. Hazel buried her face into Juniper's back, and the taller girl internally groaned. Stiles and Hazel were so disgustingly adorable, and they barely even knew each other.

"We were actually talking about the guy behind me," Juniper replied, "But I really don't care about some high school pretty boy. I'm more interested in knowing about my next class."

Scott snapped to attention. "Oh, yeah. Um..." he looked down at their class schedules, which he'd forgotten to give back to them. Smooth move, McCall. "You both have English with Mr Diaz. I have it too, actually."

Scott waved goodbye to Stiles, Juniper snapped a new piece of gum, and Hazel awkwardly wiggled her fingers in Stiles' general direction. The three headed down the hall, stopping at a classroom around the corner.

"Here it is. We have this class with my friend Lydia and my girlfriend Kira. I think you'll like them."

"You don't know anything about us," Juniper replied, "You have no idea who we'd like."

"Well...I mean, yes, I don't really know you. But everyone likes Kira and Lydia."

Juniper snorted. "Whatever you say, McCall."

* * *

Hazel and Juniper actually didn't meet Lydia and Kira, or any of Scott's friends that were supposedly in their classes, until lunch rolled around. Their guide offered up excuses for his friends' absences, but neither girl really believed him.

"You're kind of a crap liar, McCall," Juniper commented as he led them to the cafeteria. Scott awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. If only you knew, he thought.

"Thank you...for showing us around, I mean." Scott looked at Hazel in surprise. He hadn't actually heard her voluntarily speak to anyone besides Juniper all day. She'd introduced herself in their classes, and she'd answered questions when called on, but that had been it.

"Oh. No problem! I mean, I'm always happy to help people out."

"What would really help us out is if you'd show us where to put our stuff," Juniper said, "I'm starving."

"Oh, yeah. Well, my friends and I usually sit outside. You're more than welcome to join us, of course."

"No shit, Scooby. We haven't exactly had the chance to make other friends."

Scott rubbed his neck again. "Oh. Yeah." He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he just headed towards the pack's usual table.

"So, will your 'friends' actually be joining us? I'm starting to think you made them up."

"Juniper, that's not very nice," Hazel whispered to her adoptive sister.

Scott was saved from answering the taller girl's question by the trio's arrival at the lunch table. Thankfully, the rest of the pack was actually there, and they welcomed their Alpha with smiles.

"He wasn't lying. You should apologize," Hazel muttered. Juniper glared in return.

"Hazel, Juniper, these are my friends. That's Kira, you've already met Stiles, Lydia," Hazel blushed, "Hayden, Liam, Mason, and Malia. Everyone, these are the girls that I was telling you about."

The pack said their hellos, except for Malia, who was extremely busy digging in to her chicken drumsticks.

Juniper nodded at everyone and sat next to Malia, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Hazel looked lost, since there was no seat next to Juniper, and Scott was at the end of the bench next to Kira. She was saved by Stiles, who hastily pulled his bag off the seat and tossed it on the ground.

"Here, you can sit next to me. I totally wasn't saving this seat for you or anything. I just happened to put my stuff there. No big deal." Stiles was blabbering. Hazel was endeared. She sat down next to the fidgeting boy, tucking a lock of hair behind her left ear and smiling shyly.

"Fo, 'oo ahe 'oo guyve agen?" Malia asked around a mouthful of chicken.

"Malia, don't talk with your mouth full," Lydia demanded.

"Fawy."

The strawberry-blonde sighed and returned to the book she'd been reading. Hazel glanced at the cover and was unable to understand the title, which read Liber de Bestiis.

Malia, having now swallowed her food, asked her question again. "So, who are you guys again?"

"They're Scott's neighbors," Kira answered, "They just moved to town. Scott's showing them around."

"Why? Are they sup-"

"Super-lost? Yeah, totally! Scott was probably not the best choice for a tour guide. He has a terrible sense of direction!" Stiles butted in, glaring at Malia as he did so. Hazel and Juniper looked at each other, confusion in their eyes. The shorter girl was content to just shrug the weirdness off. The taller one was not.

"You guys are kind of weird. Did you know that?" Juniper asked.

Liam and Mason snorted, but neither said anything. Hayden looked at Liam fondly before looking back at her phone. She had been furiously typing away since the two new girls had sat down. Hazel nudged her sister, shaking her head slightly, before opening her backpack and pulling out a tupperware container. She pulled off the lid, revealing that the container was full of cucumbers.

Lydia sniffed the air, and pursed her lips. "Is that..."

"It's cucumber salad," Juniper said as she pulled out her own lunch, "She has some obsession with it."

"I do not!" Hazel protested. All eyes turned to her at the sound of her raised voice, and her blush returned.

"Yeah, I'll believe that when you stop eating it every day."

The conversation was interrupted by a heavy sigh from Lydia, who was frowning at her phone.

"What's up, Lyds?" Stiles asked, tearing his eyes away from staring at Hazel.

"Mom saw the girls with Scott earlier. She wants to see them in her office, and apparently I'm her messenger now."

Juniper frowned as well. "Who the hell is your mom?"

"Natalie Martin. She's the guidance counselor, as well as about a million other things," Stiles explained, his nose wrinkling just a bit.

Lydia stood up, gathering her things. Hazel and Juniper looked at her, and she rolled her eyes. "Well? Are you coming?"

Hazel nodded quickly, snapping the lid back on her lunch and tossing it into her bag. Juniper rolled her own eyes, moving at a more languid pace.

"It was nice meeting you all," Hazel said as she joined Lydia. Juniper only added a shrug before the strawberry-blonde led them away.

As the trio left, Stiles watched them walk away. Scott and Liam started laughing, and Stiles turned around to glare at them.

"What?"

"Dude, you have it so bad!" Scott said. Liam nodded, unable to speak through his laughter. Stiles frowned and pulled out a textbook, causing Hayden to snort.

"Shut up! Like you two are ones to talk!" Stiles' cry might have been more effective if it hadn't been so much like a squawking bird. As it was, it just served to send the rest of the table into hysterics. He rolled his eyes and dove into studying, wondering why these were the people that he called his friends. He blamed Scott and his stupid puppy eyes.

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, wow, this took forever. But it's done! Hope you enjoyed, please review, and we'll see you next time!


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